In Spain, Lando Norris had to defend himself against Max Verstappen on the long straight right from the start – unsuccessfully. Will Norris pay Verstappen back tomorrow? The Brit in the McLaren is lurking in second place. In Austria, there are two long straights right from the start. Norris is well aware of this: “This is a good position for the race tomorrow!”
Norris: That must have been a good lap from Max!
Norris was unable to quite match his performance in Spain with second place. He missed out on that by 94 thousandths of a second. Nevertheless, he is satisfied with the first of the two qualifying sessions in Spielberg.
“Overall, it was a good qualifying. It was close, as it has been all year. It may not have been the perfect lap, but it was a good one,” said Norris. “That must have been a good lap from Max.”
This means that Norris still has every chance of winning the sprint. Especially on the first lap, Norris has enough chances to get close to Verstappen in the slipstream on the two long straights that follow the start/finish straight. “P2 is a good starting position, we will push from there.”
Piastri leaves Spain behind: We are back on the pace
For Oscar Piastri, it is a kind of small rehabilitation after an unfortunate weekend in Spain. Piastri made a mistake in qualifying and was consequently well behind his teammate Lando Norris for the entire race. “Last weekend was a bit tough, but now we are back on the pace – and our new front wing worked well.”
The front wing is a new part of the MCL38 in Austria. The hope is that the front wing will allow us to remain at least on par with Red Bull in the battle. Third place is a step forward compared to Barcelona. “I could have driven a few corners a little better, but I’m happy. It’s at least good to know where I lost time,” sums up Piastri.
“The gap to Max is definitely not massive and I know where I made the few mistakes, I definitely think we are in the fight,” said Piastri. The Australian was just over three tenths of a second behind Verstappen. In the real qualifying on Saturday he has the chance to reduce the gap.